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Inside NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

Following up on yesterday's Mars Phoenix Lander post, let's continue with the NASA theme. This past May, Jet Propulsion Lab Director Charles Elachi gave a speech about JPL, full of historic and contemporary photos -- including a surprising amount of goofing around.

Elachi shows us the fun side of JPL, the serious side of JPL, and a bunch of cool stuff about the Mars Rovers (including some of the best Mars photos I've seen). The satellite imagery of Mars is beautiful and engaging. On the downside, Elachi has a penchant for playing hip videos during his presentation, so he does seem to be trying a little too hard to reach the kids. Regardless, the presentation includes a good (if overly edgy) video looking at the beginning of the Mars Phoenix Lander mission, and Elachi gives us some insight into the culture of JPL. Check it out, science fans!

Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)